"Mack the Knife" was originally written in German as "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" for the musical Die Dreigroschenoper, or The Threepenny Opera, but has since been translated into English several times; the best-known translation is by Marc Blitzstein. The song is considered a swing standard and was first recorded in 1954, by Louis Armstrong. The most successful version on the American charts was by Bobby Darin in 1959. In 1960, Ella Fitzgerald won a Grammy for a live version of the song in which she ad-libbed the verses after forgetting the lyrics.

References

The song "Dancing with a Whale" from the "Elmo: The Musical" segment, "Sea Captain the Musical," ends with the line, "Look out ol' Moby is back!" during the last few notes of the song. This references the ending of "Mack the Knife," which features the lyric, "Look out ol' Macky is back!" at the end.